Border Road Organization (BRO) has begun snow clearing operations on the crucial Srinagar – Leh Highway, which is expected to be thrown open to vehicles by mid-April 2015.

The only stumbling block on the Srinagar – Leh Highway is the Zoji La pass, which remains buried under 20-30ft of snow for 5 months each year and requires joint effort of BRO’s Project Beacon and Vijayak to be thrown open each summer.

In a statement issued yesterday by Project Beacon’s Chief Engineer, Brig A. K. Das, “The snow clearance work has been started and will be completed by mid-April next month subject to good weather, toughest work for snow clearance remains on the 30-km road stretch up to zero point of Zoji La from Sonamarg.”

While BRO is hoping to reopen Srinagar – Leh Highway by 15th April, bad weather can delay the opening of the highway. Furthermore, initially Srinagar – Leh Highway remains unstable and Zoji La can get closed multiple times due to avalanches and snowfall.

Traffic too is strictly regulated with vehicles from each side only being allowed to cross Zoji La for few hours each day.

We will keep posting frequent updates on the road status of Srinagar – Leh Highway and Manali – Leh Highway, so make sure to subscribe to our free email updates.